The Director-General reiterated that Africa is FAO’s top priority And stressed the importance of South-South Cooperation.

President Yayi said Benin is willing to contribute to the food stability of the whole continent – with the help of FAO.

He spoke at length about his vision for Benin agriculture, saying he wanted the country to have a profitable agricultural sector that could provide jobs especially for young people. He added that Benin was already selling surplus maize to the World Food Programme so it could be provided to countries in the Sahel. Benin produced nearly one million tonnes of maize in 2007 and has plans to produce 1.9 million tonnes in 2015.

The President made reference to a joint FAO-China mission that visited Benin earlier this month to formulate a South-South Cooperation programme, which would see Chinese agricultural experts being posted to Benin to work alongside and share their expertise with Benin technical experts. The President said he wants the new programme to concentrate on providing jobs for youth.

Almost 12 percent of Benin’s national budget is dedicated to agriculture, which means it has reached the goal set out in the Maputo Declaration of 2003, in which African countries committed themselves to set aside at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture.